Apparatus for the heating of billets and the like



Sept. 25, 1962 M. MORGAN 3,055,650

APPARATUS FOR THE HEATING oF BILLETS AND THE LIKE 34- LH JNVENTOR.

Z yl es 2720 Tqan Z9 Sept. 25, 1962 M. MORGAN 3,055,650

APPARATUS Foa THE HEATING oF BILLETS AND TEE LIKE Filed April l5, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 I INVENTOR. Myles loga'n Sept. 25, 1962 M, MoRGAN 3,055,650

APPARATUS FOR THE HEATING OF BILLETS AND THE LIKE Filed April l5, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 A will INVENTOR.

Myles mo'rgo-m WM/j;

United States Patent 3,055,650 APPARATUS FR THE HEATING F BILLETS AND THE LIKE Myles Morgan, Worcester, Mass., assigner to Morgan Construction Company, Worcester, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Apr. 15, 1960, Ser. No. 22,466 3 Claims. (Cl. 263-6) This invention relates to apparatus for the heating of billets and the like and more particularly to apparatus arranged to reheat intermediate steel products before introducing them into a rolling mill for finishing.

'It is common in rolling mill practice to roll steel ingots to a smaller size called a billet. Such billets are often stored for considerabe periods before the nal rolling into the ultimate product of a rolling mill. For that reason it is, of course, necessary to heat the billet before introducing it into the rolling mill. For that purpose a reheat furnace is provided, provision being made for introducing the billets at one end of the furnace and withdrawing them after heating from the other end of the furnace. The furnace is usually provided with an inclined floor along which the billets, after being moved longitudinally into the furnace, are moved sideways, this movement being accomplished by a pusher mechanism which moves the entire group of billets transversely down the inclined floor. The billets when heated are withdrawn from the lower end.

One difficulty that is experienced with this type of reheat apparatus is that, as the billet is introduced into the upper end of the furnace, the leading end tends to slide down the sloping iloor while the rear portion of the billet is still outside of the furnace. This behavior is especially troublesome if the billets have been bent, which is all too frequently the c-ase. This irregular movement of a billet down the inclined floor of the furnace sometimes causes the billet to climb onto the upper surface of the preceding billets or to collide end on with transverse skids which are built into the furnace hearth.

The latter circumstance results at least in delay, and sometimes in breakage of a skid or the charging mechanism. When billets pile on top of one another within the furnace, very difficult manhandling is required to avoid damage to furnace walls, and to permit normal discharge of billets from the furnace after heating. These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art devices have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.

It is, therefore, an outstanding object of the invention to provide an apparatus for the heating of billets and the like wherein the possibility of irregular introduction of a billet into a heating furnace is reduced to a minimum.

Another object of this invention is the provision of an apparatus for reheating billets wherein the maintenance of the billets in a single layer of billets arranged transversely of the furn-ace is assured.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of an apparatus for preventing one end of a billet from sliding down the inclined floor of a reheating furnace ahead of the other end.

It is a further object of the invention to provide apparatus which can effectively handle billets which have been bent, and which otherwise must be discarded.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends the invention, then, compri-ses the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description and the annexed drawings setting forth in detail a certain illustrative embodiment of the invention, this being indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principle of the invention may be employed.

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In said annexed drawings:

FIG. 1 is a horizontal sectional view of apparatus embodying the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG. l; and

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional View of a portion of the apparatus taken on the line III-III of FIG. l.

Referring first to FIG. l, wherein are best shown the general features of the invention, the apparatus, indicated generally by the reference numeral 10, is shown in use in connection with a reheating furnace 11. The furnace is provided with four walls .12, 13, 14 and 15 and a floor 16. The wall 12 is provided with an entrance door 17 adjacent the wall 13, and an opposing observation door 18 is located in the wall 14 directly opposite the entr-ance door 17. At the other end adjacent the wall 15 the wall 12 is provided With a pushout door 19 and a discharge door 21 which lies opposite the door 19 in the wall 14. Outside of the furnace directly beside the door 19 is a pushout apparatus 22 having a bar 23 which is driven lengthwise through the door 19 by means of an actuating motor 24. Beside the door 21 lies a pullout apparatus 25 of the type shown in the patent of Palmer et al. #2,696,922. The pullout apparatus has driven rolls which grasp the end of a billet extending through the door 21 and pull it from the furnace and introduce it into a rolling mill (not shown). The doors 19 and 21 are aligned with the roll pass of the rolling mill. 'Ihe other end ofthe furnace adjacent the wall 13 is provided with cross pusher mechanism 26. This mechanism consists of a series of pusher bars 27 operating through apertures 28 in the wall 13 of the furnace; a motor 29 is connected to the pusher bars 27 in driving relationship so that they reciprocate in a generally horizontal plane.

Referring next to FIG. 2, it can be seen that the iloor 16 of the furnace is provided with a sloping portion 31 which starts closely adjacent the entrance door 17 of the wall 12 of the furnace and slopes downwardly toward the wall 15. The iloor is also provided with a short sloping portion 32 which slopes in the opposite direction; that is to say, it slopes from a low side immediately adjacent the wall 13 to a high side adjacent the other side of the entrance door .17. The pusher bars 27 of the cross pusher mechanism 26 operate through the apertures 28 in the wall 13 to contact a group of billets 33 resting on the sloping portion 32. In this view the operation of the pushover mechanism is quite evident; the motor 29 drives the gear box 34 having an output shaft with a crank arm 35 which in turn drives through a connecting rod 36 to operate a -bell crank 37. The connecting rod 36 is connected to one arm of the bell crank 37 and the other end of the pusher bar 27 is connected to the other arm of the bell crank to provide reciprocating motion of the pusher bars 27.

Referring next to FIG. 3, a cross-sectional view shows a conveyor 38 which is located in alignment with the entrance door 17 and which is provided with a drive motor 39 and rollers 41. It can be seen that each of the rollers 41 is of frusto-conical form and is arranged with its larger end further away from alignment with the wall 13 than the smaller end. In other words, the slope of the cone approximates the slope of the sloping portion 32 of the floor 16 of the furnace. The conveyor 38 is arranged so that the uppermost portions of the peripheries of the rollers are slightly higher but parallel to the sloping portion 32. Each roller is mounted on a horizontal shaft 42 and is connected by a bevel gear 43 through a pinion gear 44 which is mounted on a longitudinal drive shaft 45 which shaft in turn is driven -by the motor 39. Suitable side guards 46 and 47 extend longitudinally of the conveyor in the direction of introduction of billets into the entrance door 17. These lie on either side of the rolls 3 41. The rolls extend above the surface of the horizontal table 48 which extends between rollers 41.

The operation of the apparatuswill now be readily understood in view ofthe above description. The billets may be introduced into the furnace either singly or in groups. For the purpose of the discussion, let us assume that a group of three billets 33 is to be introduced into the furnace. These billets are placed on the conveyor 38 and proceed along the conveyor on the upper peripheries of the rollers 41, which, as has been pointed out, are driven by the motor 39.

The billets may also be propelled from the charging conveyor 38 into the furnace by a conventional charging buggy mounted on guard rails 46 and 47. Because the surfaces 41 and 32 which support the billets during charging are inclined away from the sloping portion 31 of the furnace hearth, the billets being charged are restrained from sliding prematurely onto the sloping portion 31, where interference with skids and other billets would occur. This is true even if bent billets are charged, the only limitation ybeing that the over-all width of the group of bent billets must be able to pass through the charging door. After the group of bars 33 has been completely introduced into the furnace, the motor 29 causes the pusher bars 27 to move inwardly through the apertures 28. The pusher bars move the billets up the sloping portion 32 out of alignment with the door 17 and then onto the sloping portion 31 of the floor where they join preceding billets in parallel single-layer relationship. The introduction of more billets and the operation of the pushers bars 27 causes the billets to proceed across the Hoor 16 down the sloping portion 31 until the leading billet eventually reaches alignment with the pushout door 21. At that time the pushout apparatus 22 operates and the rod 23 extends through the pushout door 19 into the furnace where it contacts the end of a billet o1` group of billets. These billets proceed outwardly through the door 21 and are grasped by the pullout apparatus 25 and introduced into the rolling mill.

It can be seen that use of the present invention makes it possible to charge straight or moderately bent billets into a reheating furnace without premature delivery onto the sloping hearth, and to push these billets transversely through the furnace in a single layer, without damage to skids, walls and roof.

Other modes of applying the principles of the invention may be employed, change being made as regards the details described, provided the features stated in the following claims or the equivalent of such be employed.

The invention having been thus described, what is claimed as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for heating billets and the like, comprising a furnace having a Hoor and a charging door at one end for the introduction of billets, a cross pusher mechanism for advancing the billets laterally from the Said one end to the other end of the furnace, a charging conveyor located externally of the furnace in alignment with the said door and having conical rollers for introducing billets into the furnace, that portion of the oor of the furnace at the billet receiving end which is aligned longitudinally with the said charging door sloping downwardly toward the said one end, the angle of slope of the said portion of the oor being great enough to cause the entering billets to move sidewise toward the said one end, the upper surfaces of said rollers sloping in the same direction as the said floor portion.

2. Apparatus for the heating of billets and the like, comprising a furnace having a floor and a charging door at one end for the introduction of billets, a cross pusher mechanism for advancing the billets laterally from the said one end to the other end of the furnace, a conveyor located externally of the furnace in alignment with the said door for introducing billets into the furnace, the floor of the furnace sloping downwardly toward the said other end for most of its length, a relatively small area adjacent the door sloping in the opposite direction at an angle sufficiently great to cause the billets on entering the furnace to shift sidewise over said small area toward said one end of the furnace, the portions of the conveyor which carry the billets lying in substantially the same plane as the said small area of the furnace floor.

3. Apparatus for the heating of billets and the like, comprising a furnace having a floor and a charging door at one end for the introduction of billets, a cross pusher mechanism for advancing the billets laterally from the said one end to the other end of the furnace, a conveyor located externally of the furnace in alignment with the said door for introducing billets into the furnace, the oor of the furnace sloping downwardly toward the said other end for most of its length, a relatively small area adjacent the door sloping in the opposite direction.

References Cited inthe le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 653,504 Edwards July l0, 1900 653,506 Edwards July 10, 1900 701,023 Edwards et al. May 27, 1902 1,912,705 George June 6, 1933 2,295,474 Horn Sept. 8, 1942 2,868,348 Thurman et al Ian. 13, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 858,419 Germany Dec. 8, 1952 

